Cheaters in Diablo 2?

[Smoketest]

The game is well worth the cost to be able to play on B.Net. Adds another dimension to the game, and there's a lot you can't do in single/lan play that you can on Realms. Good luck with your playing.
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The only thing you can get on realms that doesn't come in Nobbie's mod is interaction with other human players. You can play (if your papers are in order) with AB folks, or LL folks, or you can spend time (years for me) making friends with other decent folks. (Many of my friends are moving on to other games and only visit b.net to chat now.) That's something else to consider: you're getting into this game late in its life, so there will be fewer folks on b.net to play with, compared to years ago when the game was new, or even compared to the first ladder season of the current patch (1.10).

Yes, there are a lot of cheaters online, and many people love nothing more than to prey on others. Sadly, many inexperienced players get taken for a ride in more way than one. Accounts get hacked, duped items knowingly/unknowingly obtained in trade disappear unexpectedly, scammers try to trick you out of items, passwords, and anything else you might have, etc. While I've never been a victim, many folks have. So go into B.net's population with your guard up, and don't quickly believe what people tell you. (Often if you ask a question you will get as many different answers as there are people responding.)

I hope you follow through with obtaining a legal copy of the game. (The battlechest collection is quite affordable.) What you have now is stolen property.

If all you care about is having Ladder bonuses in your game, I recommend downloading Nobbie's mod and playing offline singleplayer. All the fun, without the headaches.